View from the tank of the Sarangapani Temple looking towards a gopura of the Kumbheshvara Temple, Kumbakonam

Photograph of the gopura of the Kumbeshvara temple from the tank of the Sarangapani Temple, taken by Alexander Rea around 1892, from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections. Kumbakonam, in Tamil Nadu, was an important centre during the 9th to 13th centuries under the Chola dynasty. There are fifteen temples in the town dedicated both to Shiva and Vishnu. Some of these temples have Chola foundations with later extensions constructed under the patronage of the Vijayanagara and Nayaka rulers. The Sarangapani Temple is the largest Vaishnava temple in Kumbakonam and was erected between the 13th and 17th centuries. The Kumbeshvara Temple, built in the 17th century during the Nayaka period, is the largest Shaiva temple in Kumbakonam.